Now children are not blind. They are aware of what’s happening in Matthew 21:15. And they have heard their parents shouting the meaning of it all. So they take up the chant in verse 15, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” Son of David! That is the title of the Messiah. These children are calling him the king of Israel. The long-expected Savior.

The chief priests and the scribes cannot endure this any longer. They think it’s outrageous for Jesus to hear this kind of acclamation and not stop them or correct them. So they say to Jesus in verse 16, “Do you hear what these are saying?” What they meant was, “We know you can hear what these are saying, but we cannot imagine why you don’t stop them, since you are most certainly not the Messiah.”

Jesus’ answer is first crystal clear in its simplicity, and then jaw-dropping in its connection with Psalm 8. First, he simply says, “Yes.” Do you hear what these are saying, Jesus? They are calling you the Son of David. They are calling you the bringer of deliverance and salvation. They are calling you the king of Israel. Do you hear this? “Yes.” There is a whole world of meaning in that word. “Yes, I hear. And I approve. I receive what they are saying. They are not mistaken. They are not blaspheming. They are not foolish. They just seem foolish. To you, the wise and strong and important, they seem ignorant and weak and insignificant.”

But doesn’t that sound familiar, scribes and chief priests? You know your Bibles. Does the weakness and folly and insignificance of children lifting up their voices remind you of something? So Jesus goes on in verse 16 and says to the chief priests and scribes: “Have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise’?” In other words, he quotes Psalm 8:2.

Specifically, he cites the Greek version of Psalm 8:2. Remember the Hebrew version said, “Out of the mouth of . . . infants, you have established strength.” The Greek version said, “Out of the mouth of infants . . . you have prepared praise.” In other words, the Hebrew version doesn’t tell us how the babies use their mouths to establish strength and silence the enemy. It just says, “Out of the mouth of . . . infants, you have established strength” to still the enemy. But the Greek version that Jesus cites ventures an answer to the question of how these babes use their mouths to silence the enemy—they praise God. “Out of the mouth of infants . . . you have prepared praise.” This would not be the only time in the Old Testament when the praises of God’s people was the power that defeated the enemies of God (e.g., 2 Chronicles 20:22).

But why did Jesus cite this Psalm? Two things happen when he quotes this Psalm. First of all, it comes true. The enemy is silenced. The chief priests and scribes say no more. The day belongs to the children. What they say holds sway. What the chief priests and scribes say falls to the ground. So Jesus makes clear that this psalm is coming true in his ministry. God is defeating his enemies through the weakness of children and man. The king was on a donkey. And the triumph came from the mouth of babes. This is the way it will be all the way to Calvary. The kingship of Jesus, the Messiahship of Jesus, the power and lordship of Jesus will triumph in weakness.

But something else happened when Jesus described these children with the words of Psalm 8:2. When Jesus cited Psalm 8:2, “Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise,” the meaning in the psalm was clearly praise to God. But these children were saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” Their praise was directed to Jesus. Jesus knew that. The chief priests and scribes knew that. So it is jaw-dropping when Jesus says, “I will tell you what is happening here: Psalm 8, verse 2, is happening. God is being praised by these children. When these children praise me as the Messiah, the Son of David, they are praising God. Because that’s who I am. Before Abraham was, I am.”

The ultimate meaning of Palm Sunday is the same as Psalm 8 only now God has another name. Psalm 8 means God defeats his foes with the weakness of children, he rules his world with the weakness of men. And Palm Sunday means the same, only now God has a face and a name: Jesus, the God-man defeats his foes with the weakness of children, and he will save the world and rule the world on the path of weakness.

Christ crucified looks foolish and weak. But all of Scripture aims to teach us that “the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men” (1 Corinthians 1:25). If you would have a strong Savior, embrace the crucified and risen Christ. If you would be strong, trust him and follow him like a child in the path of humility and love.

The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you,

Pastor Bill

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